import tab delimited file to ACT 2010 does not work

Everything works fine. Importing bar shows, but no green bar begins. The Importing box disappears and takes me to the list view which shows me the original 69 contacts I had but has not added the 1410 requested.

I have told it to merge any duplicate contacts of which there should be none from the existing 69.

I created a blank copy of this database and imported. It showed 18 "duplicates" and imported all 1410 contacts in less than 2mins (with me pressing create for the 18 duplicates)

I then imported this same .txt file to the correct database - same thing happens. Importing box comes up, no green bar starts, box disappears and it flicks to the list view showing only the original 69 contacts. No contacts imported, no errors show up.

I have removed ALL formulas (used several to change info so that it fit the ACT fields such as concatinate)

Saved the spreadsheet as a new file.

Then created a new tab delimited text file.

This now causes about 800 "duplicate" in the new database, but I am able to tick "create contact" and carry on until all 1410 are imported. In teh new database... same thing. Importing box opens, bar does not even appear. After approx 15secs the importing disappears and the screen changes to the list view showing the original 69 contacts. I have tried it starting in the list view, same result.

The problem would appear to be that it is not asking me to create the contact when it finds duplicates in the existing database. I cant avoid this or change the data as I am importing vacant land lists where quite often several lots are owned by the one person or company = contact.